Dream Team’s Fragile Sheen : Olympic Basketball Sponsors Could See Investment Go Bust

America’s Olympic basketball “Dream Team” could soon become a marketing nightmare.

Although 15 major corporate sponsors--from McDonald’s to AT&T--will; together invest more than $100 million for advertising and promotions that link their products and services to the team of top professionals, there is growing speculation by marketing consultants that this huge investment could be a bust.

Advertisers initially viewed the team as the marketing opportunity of a lifetime. Many still do, for, after all, it seems a no-lose proposition: Superstars Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird all on the same team--striving for the gold medal that would bring glory not only to America, but to the companies that dug deep in their pockets to pull off this ultimate basketball clinic.

But just weeks before the Olympic torch is to be lit, marketing experts now say that the bloated number of Dream Team advertisers may be diluting their effectiveness by associating with a team that actually has more corporate sponsors (15) than team members (12).

Few marketers will admit it, but in light of the team’s lopsided victories in the qualifying rounds that ended Sunday, some Dream Team sponsors fear that few TV viewers will be eager to watch Olympic contests that exude such little competitive spirit. Even Duke University’s Christian Laettner, the only non-professional on the Olympic squad, remarked recently that “fans will be bored as hell watching us.”

Injuries to team members have already sidelined Bird and knocked John Stockton out of the lineup. And while it is highly unlikely, there is a gnawing fear among some sponsors that the ego-inflated team could somehow lose, and limp off the court with a sullied reputation that will rub off negatively on everyone--and every company--associated with it.

These myriad concerns led Alan Siegel, chairman of the New York corporate image firm Siegel & Gale, to tell his clients to keep their distance from Olympic sponsorships. “This is the extension of the ugly American,” Siegel said. “The last thing we need right now is super-nationalism that emphasizes how great we are. This whole basketball thing could come off as one big farce.”

But the marketing machinery behind the team contends that the outlook is rosy.

“What can I say? We were able to sell out all the (sponsorship) properties in just four months,” said Rick Welts, president of NBA Properties, the National Basketball Assn.’s marketing and licensing arm. “We could have doubled the number of sponsors, but we didn’t want so many messages that it would be confusing.”

The lineup of major sponsors reads like a corporate American Dream Team. McDonald’s, which previously offered Team USA trading cards, is expected to soon be handing out plastic Dream Team collectors cups. Quaker Oats, which makes Gatorade, sponsored a sweepstakes whose winner will be sent to Barcelona. ITT Sheraton is offering its frequent hotel guests special Team USA merchandise. Converse is introducing a limited edition of new Dream Team shoes. And Kraft USA is selling everything from team posters to basketball caps.

Sponsors say this may be the premier marketing opportunity of the year--if not the decade. “I don’t know if we will be able to tap into this kind of magic ever again,” said Jackie Woodward, manager of sports marketing at McDonald’s. “We think it’s the best opportunity in sports marketing in 1992.”

With the economy still in the pits, however, most marketers contend that they are being more careful about how they spend their ad dollars. But many marketers--including Converse--skipped their usual exhaustive research and simply fell all over themselves to associate with basketball’s Team USA.

“It’s nuts. It’s absolutely nuts,” said Dave Burns, a Chicago-based sports marketing expert. “I think the advertising decision makers are blinded by the money they are spending.”

Some critics also contend that the sponsorship mania around Team USA runs contrary to the image of what the Olympic Games once represented: amateur athletes pressing to perform like pros.

“Here you have corporate sponsors supporting a bunch of millionaires,” said Michael Jacobson, co-founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Center for the Study of Commercialism. “You can imagine some bizarre scene in the future, where Michael Jordan will run out on the court wearing the Domino’s Pizza delivery uniform.”

Marketers rightfully point out that this basketball team has probably garnered more free publicity than any ad-hoc assemblage of team athletes ever--and it hasn’t even yet played a game that counts. And it’s a safe bet that a straw poll of Americans would show more interest in the men’s basketball Dream Team than in the nation’s presidential candidates.

Also, by excelling in Barcelona, the team members and sponsors could garner lots of goodwill--and maybe even profit--from the growing European and world markets.

The sponsors--who paid more than $1 million each just to have the right to call themselves official sponsors of the U.S. basketball team--deny that they might have made a wrong marketing call.

Maybe there are an awful lot of corporate sponsors, admitted Philip Shaw, vice president of marketing for Bulova Corp., the official timer of USA Basketball. “But if you want to talk about over-commercialization, see ‘Batman.’ ”

Converse, the shoe company that has separate endorsement contracts with Johnson and Bird, insists that although continued blowouts are likely, the public remains enthusiastic. “There are so few times that players of this caliber play together,” said Joanna Jacobson, senior vice president of marketing at Converse. “We think they’ll be viewed as real heroes.”

Jacobson denied that the company will feel any humiliation when the team takes the court with only two of its starters wearing Converse shoes. Although the basketball team will wear uniforms designed by Champion, individual team members wear shoes of their choice--generally based on their endorsements. “We have to play fair,” she said. “We can’t expect these players to give up their rights to their own endorsement contracts.”

And if, heaven forbid, the team should lose? Do sponsors lose with it?

“I’d hate to look at that possibility,” said David Wickware, director of consumer marketing at Philips Lighting Co., a corporate sponsor of the team. “But I guess there is a risk in everything.”

Briefly . . .

The Los Angeles agency Fotouhi Alonso Advertising has won the estimated $4-million ad business for LA Cellular, but it lost the $1-million Casablanca Fan Co. account, which went to the San Francisco ad firm Goldberg Moser O’Neill. . . . Nike, which spent millions to have its name etched across U.S. track and field uniforms, is appealing a court decision that bars the advertising and sale of Nike apparel in Spain. . . . Evidently Reebok isn’t enough for American Olympic decathlete Dave Johnson, who will also be starring in ads for Pert Plus shampoo. . . . About 10% of the staff at the Los Angeles office of Della Femina McNamee will be fired because the creative portion of the $65-million Sega account has gone to the San Francisco agency Goodby, Berlin & Silverstein. . . . Over the past year, Goodby has snatched more than $100 million in ad business directly from Della Femina’s Los Angeles office. . . . The Industrial Development Corp. for Spain has handed its $1-million marketing campaign to the Pasadena agency Oak Tree Communications. . . . The Los Angeles agency Italia/Gal has picked up the ad business for 3 Day Blinds.

How Will Sponsors Score? More than $100 million in advertising and promotions is expectedto be spent by the 15 companies that are official corporate sponsors of the U.S. Olympic basketball team. Sponsor: AT&T; Co. Planned Promotions: Special ads during Olympics Sponsor: Bulova Corp. Planned Promotions: Limited edition watches, print ads Sponsor: Champion Products Planned Promotions: Clothing promotion, TV and print ads Sponsor: Chock Full O’ Nuts Corp. Planned Promotions: Team logo on coffee cans Sponsor: Coca-Cola Co. Planned Promotions: TV spots Sponsor: Converse Planned Promotions: TV spots, limited edition shoe promotion Sponsor: IBM Corp. Planned Promotions: TV spots Sponsor: ITT Sheraton Corp. Planned Promotions: Team merchandise for frequent guests Sponsor: Kraft USA Planned Promotions: Team poster, basketball caps, print ads Sponsor: McDonald’s Corp. Planned Promotions: Plastic cups, trading cards, TV spots Sponsor: Philips Lighting Planned Promotions: Consumer sweepstakes, TV spots, signs Sponsor: Quaker Oats Co. (Gatorade) Planned Promotions: Trip to Barcelona, posters, TV spots Sponsor: Skybox International Planned Promotions: Special edition trading cards Sponsor: Visa USA Planned Promotions: Signs at the tournament, MVP award Sponsor: Warner-Lambert Co. (Schick) Planned Promotions: Print ads, merchandise giveaways